As if the Cubs’ starting-pitching need wasn’t big enough already, it’s even bigger now.
Right-hander Jameson Taillon hit the injured list Friday. He strained his right calf while running after throwing a bullpen session Thursday.
Manager Craig Counsell said Taillon is expected to be on the shelf for more than a month.
“He’s going to miss a pretty significant amount of time,” Counsell said before the Cubs’ 11-3 victory over the Cardinals. “These things happen. You have to, as an organization, be prepared for the next step, the next solution, and that’s where we’ll be.”
The Cubs brought left-hander Jordan Wicks up from Triple-A Iowa to fill Taillon’s vacated spot on the active roster, but Counsell said Wicks is going to pitch out of the bullpen. The game Saturday, which was scheduled to be Taillon’s next turn in the rotation, will be a bullpen game, Counsell said.
Of course, starting pitching was already the team’s No. 1 need heading toward the trade deadline at the end of the month.
They’re without lefty Justin Steele for the rest of the season. Righty Javier Assad is still roughly a month away from returning, Counsell said. And even though lefty Shota Imanaga recently returned from his own lengthy IL stay, there have been inconsistent performances from Taillon and fellow righties Colin Rea and Ben Brown, who was sent to the minor leagues when Imanaga came back.
With another important veteran piece removed from the rotation, an even brighter spotlight shines on what Jed Hoyer’s front office can do before the deadline.
In the meantime, however, the Cubs need to figure out how they’ll cover the handful of games before the All-Star break and the end of the season’s first half. They have a day off Monday, which figures to be helpful, and the break will give their active starters a four-day respite.
Counsell said the Cubs could stretch out a reliever in their quest for a solution and that righty Chris Flexen is a candidate for such an assignment. Flexen — who has spent much of his major-league career as a starter and made 30 starts for the White Sox last season — threw 50 pitches in four innings in a recent relief outing against the Astros.
“He is a candidate to be stretched out, for sure,” Counsell said. “He’s prepared, at this point, to do a little bit more. . . . He threw 160 innings as a major-league starter last year. And he’s done it multiple times in his career.”
On a more permanent basis, though, the Cubs obviously are stuck with searching for answers on the trade market ahead of the deadline.
Names generating various levels of buzz include Marlins righty and 2022 Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who has struggled to the tune of a 6.98 ERA; Pirates righty Mitch Keller, who was connected to the Cubs in recent reporting; and Athletics righty Luis Severino, who has great road numbers and hasn’t been shy about complaining about his team playing its home games in a minor-league ballpark.
But that all still has to play out over the next four weeks.
“The trade deadline is July 31,” Counsell said. “I’m focused on the next week or 10 games before the All-Star break.
“[Taillon is] going to be back. Obviously, we’re going to miss him for a substantial amount of time. So we’ll have to see how that unfolds.”